


we were born sick, you heard them say it

by i_was_human



Category: Lost in Translation (Webcomic)
Genre: AU exploration, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Plot, Seven Deadly Sins, With a hint of Crack, a hint of angst, can be read as DongJae, the one where dongho really wants to murder someone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25986466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_was_human/pseuds/i_was_human
Summary: wrath, envy, greed, and lust walk into a bar. that's it, that's the joke.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 35





	we were born sick, you heard them say it

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JamlessGenius](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamlessGenius/gifts).



There's something _fascinating_ about the duality of them.

Wrath props his chin on his hand, pointed teeth gnawing on his lower lip as he stares at Envy across the bar. The white-haired man's staring into the depths of his drink, eyes flickering between brown and black, and Wrath stands, making his way over to take the seat next to him.

"I thought you wanted to come and relax?"

Envy waves a hand, gaze pinned on the television. "It's _him_ ," he spits, and Wrath doesn't have to ask who he means. "It's _always him_."

"Mm."

In a strange way, Wrath can commiserate.

"Hyung," Envy mumbles, and the steel-cold rage of Wrath fades into the background, leaving simply Dongho in its place. "Hyung, why can't I ever be as good as him?"

There's something pleading in Envy's - in _Minsoo's_ eyes, and Dongho finds he doesn't know the answer.

At least, not an answer that will satisfy him.

How do you reassure someone who always weighs themselves on broken scales?

"You're good enough for me," Dongho simply states, and he means it.

It's a low bar to clear - a low bar for someone who even as a baby was broken, shadows spilling over his lips and eyes black as tar - but it's true nonetheless.

"Mm," Minsoo mumbles, tilting his drink this way and that. His dark brown eyes sparkle even in the faint light, and Dongho knows this isn't Envy tearing himself down, knows it in the way he can distinguish the steel-cold rage of Wrath from the short-lived flame of his own. 

This is just Minsoo. Just Lee Minsoo, measuring himself to his brother and finding himself lacking.

Maybe that's why he's Envy's host.

Maybe Envy made him this way.

It's a quandary Dongho doesn't want to know the answer to.

"Why aren't I enough?" Minsoo murmurs, voice low. "Why am I never enough?"

Dongho doesn't have an answer for him.

* * *

Daehyun's Greed, but by looking at him, you'd never guess it.

Glasses sit crooked on his nose, and his blond hair hangs in a messy cloud around his head. He laughs like an angel and smiles like the sun, and Dongho would never associate this man with Greed, if not for one simple thing.

He himself knows what it's like to have that darker side gnawing at you - a darker side somewhat detached from yourself, not horribly intertwined like Minsoo - and there he can see it. 

The way Daehyun's eyes linger on things, the way he collects anything he can find, the way he _keeps_ and _keeps_ and never throws away, piles of junk filling his space.

Greed's snippy, short-tempered and harsh, and Wrath dislikes him even more than Dongho - which, honestly, is a hard bar to clear - but Daehyun's enough of a delight that it doesn't matter much.

Though Daehyun does steal their things.

That's pretty annoying.

Most of the time, it's not even _useful_ things. A toothbrush, a napkin, a pillow, a phone charm - nothing useful or helpful in any way.

And yet, when Dongho asks-

"I don't want to shoplift," Daehyun admits, twisting his hands in his lap. "I don't- I don't wanna steal something big, so I steal a lot of tiny things to make up for it. Like building a castle out of pebbles, y'know?"

Dongho simply stares at him and launches into yet _another_ explanation on how _that does not mean he can continue to hoard used toothbrushes_ and Daehyun looks as unimpressed as he was the last ten times Dongho tried to convince him of this.

Eventually, Dongho just picks them up and throws them away, Daehyun's permission be damned. 

Better that than decking their maknae, after all.

(also, if dongho trips over one more suspicious pile in the hallway, he is actually going to murder someone.

no, _really_.

stop laughing, lee minsoo, he's _serious_.)

* * *

When Dongho meets Lust, for a split second, he thinks there's been a mistake.

Lust is a small kid with wide eyes and a crooked smile, and Daehyun and Minsoo gawp at him - both at how _young_ he looks and at the mark sitting high on his neck - before Dongho hauls him inside, plopping him down on the couch and twisting one of his many stress toys in his hands. 

Because, _look_ , he's had a pretty shit day. Minsoo got upset over Minsung's existence again, so he had to deal with _that_ , and then Daehyun threw a hissy fit when Dongho disposed of the suspicious pile of Minsoo's shorts, and he had to deal with _that_ , and Wrath is _raring_ to punch something, so there's _that_ , and he _does not have the patience for this shit right now_.

"Hi," Lust ventures, and Dongho arches a brow, squeezing the stress ball so hard it almost pops. "Are you... okay?"

"Stop talking," he snaps, and Minsoo walks over, gingerly taking a seat next to him.

"Stressful day. What's your name?"

"Ah... Ahn Jaewon."

"Nice to meet you!" Daehyun chirps, and Dongho can and will throw this stress ball at his head. "Zen, hyung-"

"I will _throttle you_ ," Wrath growls, voice ice-cold, "and I will chop your body into pieces and feed it to the cats that live in that alley."

"Zen," Daehyun teases, and Wrath throws the stress ball at his head.

"So," Minsoo smiles, ignoring Wrath jumping Daehyun in the background, "how's it going?"

Jaewon leans around him, gaze landing on a now-shrieking Greed. "Are they... okay?"

"It's therapeutic," Minsoo assures him, and Jaewon slowly withers in his seat. "Hyung needs to relax more."

"Is he...?"

"He's not normally like this," Minsoo supplies, and Jaewon winces as Wrath slams Greed into the cabinet. "You know how it is."

"Yeah..." Jaewon sighs, reaching up to rake a hand through his hair. "It's like... a really annoying roommate."

"Wow!" Greed shouts, yanking on a fistful of Wrath's hair. "I surely _can't fucking relate_!"

Wrath slams him into the t.v. cabinet, and he shuts up.

* * *

The next time Jaewon calls him to pick him up, Dongho's just going to leave him there.

Because, see, he has no problem with _Jaewon_. But when it's _Lust_ in control...

The short answer is that he isn't a fan.

Lust giggles, leaning in to press sloppy kisses to Dongho's neck, and the older man sighs, pulling open the door and trying to manhandle him into the passenger's seat. "Get in."

"But _Wrath_ -"

"Dongho," he corrects for the umpteenth time. "Now get in."

"But you remember all the fun we had last life!" Lust whines, draping himself over Dongho like a particularly clingy octopus. "You _know_ you like me..."

"I know I'll knock you out if you don't get in the car."

"Is it because I'm me and not Jaewonnie?" Lust complains, and Dongho freezes for a split-second. "It _is_! That's so _mean_ , Wrath-"

Dongho shoves the man into the passenger's seat with no further comment.

The ride home is silent, Lust dozing off against the window seat, and Dongho watches as his pointed teeth retract into normal ones, the unearthly beauty Lust radiates fading into something more human.

More _Jaewon_.

Once they arrive, Jaewon's still sleeping, and when Dongho pulls open the side door, he nearly tumbles to the pavement. As it is, Dongho has to race to catch him, and after a quick moment of deliberation, he hoists the sleeping man into his arms, kicking the door shut with his heel. 

At least Daehyun didn't steal it.

God forbid he ever learn to key a car. 

Daehyun's awake when he walks in, and Dongho simply stares at the plushies in the younger man's arms before deciding against saying anything. 

Pick your battles, Dongho.

Jaewon grips his wrist as Dongho places him on the bed, a soft whine escaping his lips as he curls in on himself, and _oh_.

He doesn't want Dongho to leave.

And yet, Dongho _does_ have to leave, so he picks up a pillow and wedges it into Jaewon's arms, trying to ignore the way Jaewon whines once more as he buries into the fabric.

This is _stupid_.

He's being _stupid_.

And yet-

it makes sense.

Minsoo blinks lethargically at him when he walks in, and Dongho simply pulls off his shirt and heads to bed, exhaustion dragging him into the blissful world of unconsciousness. 

When he sleeps, he doesn't dream. 

Wrath made sure of that.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not entirely sure what this is but like. i hope you enjoy it anyways??
> 
> i was inspired by "only then i am human, only then i am clean" and the song take me to church, and this doesn't have plot or anything but i think it's nice anyways
> 
> [twit](https://twitter.com/i_was_human_) | [lit fic discord!](https://discord.gg/CNunB74)


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